The Pope and his comments

Printable View

Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page

16/09/2006, 9:21 AM
beautifulrock

The Pope and his comments

Interested to know the views here. Should Pope Benedicy apologise for his comments or is this an over reaction. The pope has again expressed the fact they were not his words but the words, he quoted Emperor Manuel II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christian empire which had its capital in what is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.

As per the BBC website:
The emperor's words were, he said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Benedict said "I quote" twice to stress the words were not his and added that violence was "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5351324.stm
16/09/2006, 10:19 AM
BohsPartisan

Just sounds like how Christianity delt with the competition during the early years.
17/09/2006, 1:55 AM
Condex

Rent a mob religion, offended again....
We seem to be seeing a lot of this in the last few years!!!
17/09/2006, 5:48 AM
Dodge

Had a feeling you'd post on this...
17/09/2006, 9:51 AM
BohsPartisan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Condex

Rent a mob religion, offended again....
We seem to be seeing a lot of this in the last few years!!!

digress.
17/09/2006, 10:14 AM
Condex

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodge

Had a feeling you'd post on this...

Yip, its been a while...:D

Heres a blog that I read quite often, which has some views on the matter.
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/
17/09/2006, 10:17 AM
Condex

Quote:

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

digress.

Who's straying off topic :confused:
17/09/2006, 11:35 AM
Condex

Even thought I think the BBC is biased, its still my home page...

Here's a post from 'Have Your Say'

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thre...20060917113520

Were the Pope's remarks 'anti-Islamic'?

Added: Sunday, 17 September, 2006, 07:18 GMT 08:18 UK

why should the pope apologise for the ignorance of muslims? yet again we have another example of those who offend being offended.they were
offended by cartoons last year and yet the highest
rated and longest running soap in syria has a rabbi character who only drinks blood for sustenance.

alan ronan, london

Recommended by 73 people
17/09/2006, 12:30 PM
Saint Tom

i dont think he had the need to apologise but he did anyway to ease tensions. I dont think we would leap on any leading muslims similar comments about our religion with quite the same zeal, another example of how the rest of the world is conspiring to ensure that muslims worldwide are being victomised:rolleyes:
17/09/2006, 12:39 PM
DmanDmythDledge

I don't see anything wrong with what he said and was ridiculous that he was pressurised into apologising.
17/09/2006, 1:53 PM
jebus

Didn't see the point in what he was quoting in the first place to be honest, but afterwards he shouldn't have bothered apologising. Again just like the infamous cartoon incident this gets blown all out of proportion, not by the Islamic world, but the by the left wing western media, who seem to just wait for any old PC bandwagon to roll by these days. They spend half the time saying that no one cares what the Catholic church has to say about the world anymore, and the other half outraged by what such and such Bishop said
17/09/2006, 1:55 PM
BohsPartisan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Condex

Who's straying off topic :confused:

Not saying you are off topic was looking for you to digress a little on what you were saying in the previous post, expand upon if you will.
17/09/2006, 2:00 PM
BohsPartisan

Quote:

Originally Posted by jebus

Didn't see the point in what he was quoting in the first place to be honest, but afterwards he shouldn't have bothered apologising. Again just like the infamous cartoon incident this gets blown all out of proportion, not by the Islamic world, but the by the left wing western media, who seem to just wait for any old PC bandwagon to roll by these days. They spend half the time saying that no one cares what the Catholic church has to say about the world anymore, and the other half outraged by what such and such Bishop said

Can't resist having a pop at the left can you Jebus? :rolleyes:

My problem with what he said was that it is even more true of christianity that it was spread by the sword than it is of islam. More people have died as a result of Holy Wars involving christian religions than any others. Who do you think coined the phrase, "kill them all, God will know his own"?
17/09/2006, 3:35 PM
pete

Clearly the Pope was just quoting someone elses comments but I don't understand what the point of the speech was in the first place. Its a bit like saying "i am not racist but heres some comments from a racist..."

:confused:
17/09/2006, 8:15 PM
Poor Student

I don't believe that Pope Benedict meant to reiterate the quote as exactly thoughts of his own. Whatever people think of the pope I couldn't see him delibarately setting out to insult the Islamic world, particularly given he actually went out and apologised. Yet like Pete I can't see what he was doing exactly. Of course like usual media hype it's lifted out of a context I'll never get to see properly. I understand it was a general speech on the incompatibility of violence and the way of God but I still don't see how it fits in a non-antagonistic way (if at all).
17/09/2006, 9:59 PM
BohsPartisan

The truth is out there!
Look no further!
18/09/2006, 8:06 AM
Condex

Quote:

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

The truth is out there!
Look no further!

Right, do the same thing with Mohammed and you'll be looking over your shoulder!!
18/09/2006, 8:42 AM
BohsPartisan

Its not long since you would have been looking over your shoulder for criticising the Catholic church. Benedict I'm sure is jealous of the power the Iranian clerics wield. He'd love a return to the "good old days" of theocracy and the inquisition.
18/09/2006, 9:05 AM
Poor Student

Quote:

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

Benedict I'm sure is jealous of the power the Iranian clerics wield. He'd love a return to the "good old days" of theocracy and the inquisition.

That's just silly and adds little to the discussion. It's as if I saw the Partisan in
your name and said "I bet you want to return to the days of Marxist doctrine and the purges".*

*Knowing my luck you'll probably say you do.:p
18/09/2006, 9:06 AM
crc

As I understand it, the Pope was giving an academic lecture about the relationships between Islam and Christianity in the past and present. He was giving the 'offending quote' of an example of attitudes in the past.

Its a very sad thing that (some) muslims haven't actually looked at the rest of the speech, or even thought about the context in which it was made. It would be like if I said "Hitler thought the Jews were evil and that they should be exterminated, and also that it was fair game to go around Europe invading other countries". Apparently a some muslims would interpret that sentence as being my view. Are we not allowed to debate what happenned in the past (using quotes from undesirable characters)? They need to grow up.

Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page